


And Watch Over As I Sleep (Through My Darkest of Dreams)

by capricornia



Category: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Gen, M/M, Oops, probably unrealistic portrayal of hangovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8183578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capricornia/pseuds/capricornia
Summary: He had an eyelash on the side of his nose. His lids looked somewhat red and puffy, as if he had been rubbing them excessively. His mouth was slightly open, his brow furrowed. I felt a sudden urge to put my arms around him. To keep him safe from whatever it was he was running from, like how Anthea used to hug me.I wasn’t sure Christopher would appreciate it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so i just wrote this in like an hour. oops. unbeta'd, so all error is my own fault. all rights go to DWJ. title taken from "Send Them Off!" by Bastille.

I smelled it immediately on Christopher. I think it was his magic that did it--the buzzing around him was all wonky, and it seemed like he didn’t have as much control over it as he usually did. As I got closer, I could smell the alcohol underneath the heavy cologne he was wearing. I guessed he was trying to hide the smell. It wasn’t working.

He was asleep on the loveseat in the sitting room. His mother had just left two hours previously. It was the first time she’d seen him in eight years, Elizabeth had whispered to me. He was only nineteen, and his handsome face was already so serious, even now, when he was sleeping. He usually slept on his back, with his limbs tucked close, but there he was, on his front, arm dangling over the side of the loveseat like he was an actor playing some broken role in a movie.

“Christopher?” I asked. 

He made no sound. I sat in the uncomfortable green chair opposite him. His normally pale cheeks had a flush of color on them, and a slight bit of drool was forming in the corner of his mouth, making his somewhat chapped lips appear smoother and younger. Dark circles framed his eyes.

Had he been like this before I left? Was I just now able to notice, or did he only start drinking without sobering magic after I went to France? I couldn’t have refused Gabriel’s request, not when I felt indebted to him, and I’d thought Christopher had had Elizabeth and Jason and Henrietta and Bernard, but maybe he didn’t get on with them as well as I’d thought. Had I never realized?

He had an eyelash on the side of his nose. His lids looked somewhat red and puffy, as if he had been rubbing them excessively. His mouth was slightly open, his brow furrowed. I felt a sudden urge to put my arms around him. To keep him safe from whatever it was he was running from, like how Anthea used to hug me.

I wasn’t sure Christopher would appreciate it.

I opted for sitting on the floor next to him, where I fell asleep with my head against the front of the loveseat.

 

The next thing I knew, someone was shining a light in my face. I scrunched up my eyes, then opened them. I couldn’t see anything for the brightness.

“Shh,” someone said.

“Where am I?” I whispered.

“Sitting room,” came a voice with a thick Cockney accent. Jason. “You fell asleep on the floor. Christopher is next to you, on the loveseat.” His voice sounded funny. I slowly became conscious of a warm weight on my side, and as I shifted I realized what had got Jason sounding so strange: Christopher’s arm was draped over my ribcage so his hand cradled the small of my back. It felt nice. It felt wrong. Everyone knew he and Millie were together, but, sweet lord, I wanted it. I lifted it up off me and tried to stand up. It took a couple of tries.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Shh,” said Jason again. “The Castle is everywhere looking for the two of you. You didn’t come to dinner, and neither of you were in your respective rooms. We all assumed…”

“That we were kidnapped?” I whispered.

Jason sounded embarrassed. “Not exactly,” he said. “Well, maybe some people thought that. Anyway, I thought to check the more off-the-beaten-path rooms. And here you are, in the tenth room I’ve looked in. Jeez, but this castle needs to be smaller. Who uses all these rooms, anyway? You wouldn’t believe the stuff I found in that old shed by the stables, though. There are some plants that are in there that have been growing since before Gabriel was born, I’ll bet. You’d better come along. Christopher?”

Christopher stirred. Jason came to lean over him. Christopher yawned. Jason reeled back.

“Jesus,” Jason said. “Christopher--Gabriel’s coming! Oh, for heaven’s sake--sobering spells only work for the spellcaster, see, even for an enchanter,” he told me. I nodded. “Christopher!” Jason said again.

I had an idea. I was thinking about the time when we were in the library at Stallery, and Christopher had got a cramp in his leg and I had to yell in his ear to get him to magic himself out of it. I was also thinking of the time Christopher had been mocking Gabriel for something or another, and I had felt bad, because Christopher had been making fun behind Gabriel’s back. I’d said, softly, “Christopher”--that’s it, just his name--but I said it firmly. And he’d stopped. I’d wanted to cry.

“Sober up,” I said, rather loudly, in his ear. His eyes opened like a shot, and he sat up. He immediately groaned at the effect that was having on his hung-over brain.

“Conrad?” he slurred.

“Sober up,” I said again. He nodded like he knew what I was talking about, which I wasn’t sure was the case, but then he gestured down himself and rolled his shoulders back and then looked at Jason and me staring at him.

“What?” he said.

“You and Gabriel are going to have a talk,” said Jason.

Christopher looked pained. He turned to me. “And you, Conrad?”

I just shook my head. Sure, I was disappointed, but I wasn’t about to yell at him over it. I suspected that would make it worse. Even so, Christopher just sighed and looked vaguely at the ceiling. I could tell he was counting in his head.

“Let’s go apologize to Gabriel,” he said.

Jason grabbed my arm on the way to Gabriel’s office and forced me to hang back a bit behind Christopher. If I leaned into him, too, well, maybe he didn’t notice.

“So you know,” he told me in a low voice, “some of the people in the Castle thought you and Christopher must be out together, like. Do you see what I’m saying?” I shook my head, though I thought I understood perfectly well. Jason huffed. “You may want to be a lot more subtle if you and Christopher are to be going round with each other. Millie probably won’t be too keen on it, and goodness knows Miss Rosalie is set in her ways. Besides,” he looked at me sharply, “Christopher needs someone with a force of will to match his own. What I’m saying is, don’t get hurt by him. Don’t focus so much on him, Conrad.”

He blushed a bit when he said that, and I could feel myself blushing, too. “It’s not like that, Jason,” I said, not too convincingly. I thought of Christopher comforting me in one of my panicky moments. His hands had been gentle, so gentle. I thought of how he still called me “Grant,” even though he knew that it wasn’t my name and that it annoyed me the way he said it. Jason looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. He let go of my arm, and I walked faster to catch up with Christopher.


End file.
